


Living in Memory

by SoftWenrir



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Meeting the Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22090396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoftWenrir/pseuds/SoftWenrir
Summary: Lyall Lupin invited his son over for dinner. Now that Remus was dating, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for Tonks to meet her boyfriend's only surviving family. But, really, Remus should have expected nothing less from his father.
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks
Comments: 1
Kudos: 36





	Living in Memory

“I’m really not so sure of this,” Remus said, his voice quiet. 

“He invited us, we have to go.” Tonks replied, her voice low as well. As though she was just bouncing off of Remus’ tone. 

“Or,” Remus smiled weakly at her, “we could not and say something came up.”

Tonks gave him a look. She motioned at the door they were standing before and said louder, “Remus Lupin, we are literally at his house right now.”

“I know.” He let out a defeated breath and looked back at the door. 

They had been standing at the front door to the old Lupin family cottage for at least five minutes now. Remus’ father, Lyall, had invited his son to dinner. And since the werewolf was dating Tonks now, that just brought the perfect opportunity to introduce her to his last living family. 

The cottage had been in the family for generations. It was small and had two floors to it, along with a tall billowing chimney that puffed out odd colored smoke. Remus had wanted to peek around the back of the cottage before they came to the door, but he never mentioned it. Hope Lupin's garden used to be back there. She was talented when it came to plants and her garden was always successful. Remus wanted to see if it was still thriving even without her to care for it. To see if his father was taking care of it for her.

Tonks rolled her eyes and raised her fist, knocking loudly on the door three times. 

They waited a few seconds before Remus' sensitive hearing picked up stomping feet and a shatter of glass.

Remus closed his eyes and muttered a soft, "Dear Merlin" of defeat.

The door swung open and Remus opened his eyes.

Lyall Lupin stood there, a bright smile painting his features. His eyes crinkled gently at the sides from the grin. He moved aside, holding the door for the two that stood outside. 

"Come in, come in." 

Remus and Tonks entered the cottage and Lyall closed the door behind them. The door led to the living room which was very homey; soft looking sofas sat beside a crackling fire. Bookcases lined the walls elegantly, and there were even piles of books on the floors that seemingly had no space on the shelves. 

Family wizarding photos lined walls and sat upon shelves. One that drew Tonks’ gaze was a laughing baby Remus. He sat upon the lap of a smiling woman who held his tiny fists in her hands. She was moving them up and down as she bent over the baby slightly, her short brown hair partially covering her face. But she looked up momentarily to smile at the camera - or rather, Lyall who must have been taking the picture. 

He held out his hand for Tonks to shake. “Tonks, right? Remus said you prefer that name.”

“Oh,” She blinked at him, a little surprised. “Yeah, I do.” She shook his hand firmly. 

“And you’re an auror? Very impressive, indeed.” Lyall said cheerfully, ushering the two of them to sit on one of the sofas. 

“How much has Remus told you about me?” Tonks asked with a smile. 

Lyall flicked his wand as he spoke. Drinks flew gracefully from the kitchen and hovered in front of his two guests. They took the drinks; Tonks sipping hers and Remus setting his on the coffee table. “Oh, not much. Not the most talkative person, that son of mine.” He took a drink of his own and sat down in the chair nearest the sofa.

Tonks snorted a laugh, leaning forward to clink her glass against Lyall's. "You can say that again."

"Well, I did get something out of the basement for you, Tonks. Since I know my son so well-"

"Oh, dear Merlin." Remus groaned, hiding his face in his hands. 

Two thick books came soaring into the room at another flick of Lyall's wand. He smiled happily at his son and his girlfriend. The books settled on the coffee table beside Remus' untouched glass and Lyall leaned forward to swipe at the dust on them. 

"Sorry, they've been down there a right long time." He handed the one on top to Tonks.

She wiped away the rest of the dust that speckled the cover and it fell like rain onto the floor. She glanced up at Lyall but he was still smiling. Running her fingers over the words on the cover, she couldn't help but echo his grin. "Remus John Lupin: Ages 5 to 10." 

Remus groaned, embarrassed and pained. He tried to sink on the sofa but he was too tall to do it successfully. He kept his face covered but could feel the heat of a blush creep up to the tips of his ears. 

"Hope loved taking pictures." He motioned to the walls, to the framed photos of that beautiful young woman, "Hope was Remus' mother, I'm sure you know." 

Tonks nodded, listening to Lyall rather than her whining boyfriend. 

"She would always take pictures of him. Oh, you don't know how amazed and ecstatic she was when she learned wizarding photos could move." He motioned for Tonks to open the album.

The moving images were overwhelming at first, so many of them crowded a page. But Lyall would point to them as Tonks flipped through the book's pages. 

"See that one?" Lyall said, pointing at an image that showed a clearly upset 5 year old Remus. He had a small scar on his cheek but the rest of his face was unphased. He was covered in blankets so only his little grumpy face was peeking out. "He was so mad about us wanting him to take a bath. He hid in his blankets and refused to come out. He even missed dinner that night."

Tonks laughed and Remus groaned louder in defeat. 

The Metamorphmagus flipped a few pages and pointed at another picture. "What about this one, Mr. Lupin?"

"Oh please, call me Lyall. Can't be so formal when we're both thriving in my son's embarrassment." 

She smiled brightly, meeting his gaze. "Alright, Lyall then. What's this one?"

"He was almost 7 here." The elder wizard said, shifting in his seat to lean closer. 

He tapped the image as it started from the beginning. A little boy, laughing and smiling, covered head to toe in muck and dirt. The grime on his clothes surely wouldn't come out with a good washing - maybe only with a strong cleaning charm. The echo of Remus' younger self laughed and turned on his heel, running, and slipping, and falling in more mud. Then laughing even more. 

Lyall continued, "The little pain in my ass - he ran out after it rained. Most rain we'd seen in years, it was like a bucket of water just got dumped on the cottage. Leaks everywhere. While I was trying to patch up the roof, the little nuisance ran outside. Hope followed him, obviously, and had grabbed her camera. She was equally as messy when they both came in. Head to toe, covered in mud. But they had a great time." He smiled fondly at the memory. "Remus is just like his mother, you know?"

"Is he?"

And Remus perked up at this, sitting a little more upright on the sofa. 

"Oh, definitely. That sense of humor and need to try and prank people. That's my Hope, plain as they come. She must've taught him most of his little tricks."

"Mum did?" Remus asked, licking dry lips, his voice a little wavery. Tonks settled a hand on his knee and he covered it with his own. 

"Of course, of course. You don't remember?" He tapped the album again. "Here, Tonks, dear, skip a few pages," He watched and stopped her when he saw the image. "See this? You little brat." Lyall laughed good naturedly. 

The picture didn't have Remus in it at all; but rather a much younger Lyall. Hope must have snapped the photograph at just the right time. The Lyall in the image pushed back a bowl of cereal - much too aggressively it seemed like. The chair he was seated on tipped, and he dropped backwards, knees and legs hitting the bottom of the table he was seated at. The table was jerked up into the air and everything slid off it, off the frame of the image.

"He put vomit flavored Every Flavor Beans in my cereal that morning. I should've known something was going to happen when he and Hope were scheming and wouldn't fill me in. I definitely should have known when she brought the camera to breakfast." 

Remus cracked a smile, "I remember that. She taste tested beans for a week so we could find the right ones."

Lyall grinned brightly at his son. “This one too,” He pointed at another picture. One of Remus’ smaller self laughing and crying and wriggling on the floor. “You just thought your little prank was so clever.”

“It was clever.” The werewolf smirked. “Mum even said so.”

Tonks flipped the pages, looking at the photos that colored Remus' childhood. Moving images covered the pages, some overlapping just to fit on the page. 

An eight year old Remus sitting on the edge of a dock that hovered over the waters of a lake. He was kicking his legs, looking around the open waters. The camera had barely picked up a splash in the waters a fair distance from the dock. The echo of Remus turned to look at the camera, a bright smile on his face, pointing out at the water, mouthing something lost to time.

Eight year old Remus sitting in front of a tiny birthday cake that had a sparkling magical number 9 hovering above it. There was a fresh looking wound over the bridge of the boy's nose, but it must not have been hurting him at the time. He was smiling, looking back and forth between his mother - behind the camera - and his father who was off to the side. Remus sucked in a deep breath and then blew on the number. It split into hundreds of little sparkles in the sky as it blew apart, like tiny fireworks celebrating along with the family.

Remus at nine years old, rolling his eyes as Lyall made a goofy face beside him. They sat at a picnic table - the back of the photo a beautiful park. 

Christmas time with a colorful tree by a crackling fire; a small amount of gifts under the tree with an excited - yet tired - nine year old sitting cross-legged beside it. He tore through the wrapping paper that covered the gift that rested on his lap. Grinning brightly, he held up a shabby, obviously secondhand, book. It was _Hairy Snout, Human Heart_ \- an important book for werewolves, someone had told Lyall once. It was hard to find, but they had found it; intent for Remus to read something from a werewolf's point of view. 

After the first album, Tonks couldn't help but pick up the second. "Remus John Lupin: Ages 11 to 15"

Photos of Remus during his school years - when he had come home for holiday, his mother had obviously went haywire with taking pictures. 

They continued talking, laughing, sharing stories, embarrassing Remus. 

Dinner cooled on the table as it was forgotten and the three lived in memories of happy times.


End file.
